ncaa-basketballFebruary 8, 2018 12:39pm ESTFebruary 8, 2018 7:00am ESTDuke and UNC have won their fair share of national championships since the 2000-01 season. Which one is SN's top college basketball program?

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Duke or North Carolina?

When it comes to the best basketball program in the country, the Blue Devils and Tar Heels generally pop up first.

Sporting News revisited its annual rankings to find the top 16 programs in the nation, and there were a few changes in the rankings. Programs were judged by eight categories as follows starting with the 2000-01 season.

National championships: 10 points each

Final Four appearances: 4 points each

National championship appearances: 4 points each

Sporting News Player of the Year: 2 points each

Consensus First-Team All-Americans: 1 point per All-American

Overall winning percentage: Poll-style points for the top 16 schools: 16 points are given to the school with the highest-winning percentage; one point is given to the school with the 16th-best winning percentage.

Total NCAA tournament wins: Poll-style points

Total NBA Draft picks (since 2001 NBA Draft): Poll-style points

It’s not a perfect system, but it’s our system.

Here’s our version of the Sweet 16, our top 16 basketball programs starting with the 2000-01 basketball season (*denotes won national championship that season):

15Maryland

Total score: 27

Last year: 13

Final Fours: 2 (2001, 2002*)

Trending: Down. The Terrapins haven't advanced past the Sweet 16 since winning the national title under Gary Williams in 2001-02. Mark Turgeon has a consistent tournament team, but there's been an adjustment period in the Big Ten.

14Villanova

Total score: 28

Last year:14

Final Fours: (2009, 2016*)

Trending: Up. Jay Wright has led the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament in 12 of the last 13 seasons, and that included a national championship in 2016. Villanova appears on track to be either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed for the fifth straight season.

13Gonzaga

Total score: 30

Last year: NR

Final Fours: 1 (2017)

Trending: Steady. The Bulldogs had the long-awaited break-through to the Final Four in 2017, and that success continues under Mark Few. Gonzaga (.822) is one of three schools with an .800 winning percentage since 2000-01. Kansas (.824) and Duke (.819) are the others.

12Wisconsin

Total score: 30.5

Last year: 11

Final Fours: 2 (2014, 2015)

Trending: TBD. The Badgers advanced to the Sweet 16 after Greg Gard took over for long-time coach Bo Ryan last season, but it's been an up-hill struggle for Wisconsin in 2017-18. The competition in the Big Ten won't get easier.

11UCLA

Total score: 35

Last year: 10

Final Fours: 3 (2006, 2007, 2008)

Trending: Steady. The Bruins have produced the fifth-most draft picks (23) and have reached three Final Fours in this era, but the program is still looking for its first national championship since 1995. UCLA has reached the Sweet 16 three of the last four years under Steve Alford.

10Arizona

Total score: 40

Last year: 12

Final Fours: 1 (2001)

Trending: Steady. This ranking shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Wildcats have produced 21 NBA Draft picks in this stretch. Sean Miller has taken the program to five Sweet 16 and three Elite Eight appearances. The next step still is a break-through to the Final Four.

9Louisville

Total score: 40.5

Last year: 9

Final Fours: 3 (2005, 2012, 2013*)

Trending: TBD. The Cardinals still rank 10th in the nation in winning percentage since 2000-01, but Rick Pitino is gone after an offseason scandal. That threatens the long-term future of the program under first-year David Padgett.

8Michigan State

Total score: 51

Last year: 8

Final Fours: 5 (2001, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015)

Trending: Steady. This ranking starts one year after Michigan State won the 1999-00 national title. The Spartans have reached five Final Fours in that stretch, but every team above them has won the national title since 2000-01. Tom Izzo has a team capable of changing that in 2017-18.

7Syracuse

Total score: 52

Last year: 7

Final Fours: 3 (2003*, 2013, 2016)

Trending: Slightly down. Syracuse dropped to eighth in winning percentage the last two seasons, and they've sandwiched a Final Four appearance in 2016 between a 2015 season in which they were ineligible for the tournament and last year's NIT bid. Jim Boeheim should get the Orange back in this year.

6Florida

Total score: 67

Last year: 6

Final Fours: 3 (2006*, 2007*, 2014)

Trending: Slightly up. The Billy Donovan era produced four Final Four appearances and back-to-back national titles. Mike White took the program to the Elite Eight in his second season, but the stanards will always be a little higher in Gainesville.

5Connecticut

Total score: 80

Last year: 4

Final Fours: 4 (2004*, 2009, 2011*, 2014*)

Trending: Down. UConn is one of two schools on this list with three national titles since 2000-01, and that includes the 2013-14 national champoinship under Kevin Ollie. The Huskies, however, are in danger of missing the NCAA tournament for the third time in four seasons since.

4Kentucky

Total score: 81

Last year: 5

Final Fours: 4 (2011, 2012*, 2014, 2015)

Trending: Steady. The Wildcats have produced a remarkable 33 NBA Draft picks in this stretch, the most of any Division-I school. Kentucky also has reached the Final Four four times in nine seasons under John Calipari. The next step is a few more national titles.

3Kansas

Total score: 91

Last year: 3

Final Fours: 4 (2002, 2003, 2008*, 2012)

Trending: Steady. The Jayhawks continued their streak of Big 12 championships last season — a run that stretches back to 2005. Kansas is always in the hunt for a national championship, and they reached the Elite Eight the last two seasons. That's not the standard, however. Kansas needs a little more to get in the conversation with the next two schools.

1Duke

Total score: 116

Last year: 1

Final Fours: 4 (2001*, 2004, 2010*, 2015*)

Trending: Steady. Duke ranks second in winning percentage and tournament wins behind Kansas. The difference is Mike Krzyzewski has delivered three national championships since 2000-01, and the Blue Devils will be a high seed in the 2017-18 NCAA tournament. Duke has the most SN Players of the Year and the most consensus All-Americans in that stretch. Expectations never change, and they do that year in and year out while competing with North Carolina. That's why Duke is No. 1, if only by one point over UNC.